Harpoon



Oct. 6, 1970 o. A. HEARTNESS HARPOON Filed July 11. 1968 United States Patent 3,532,375 HARPOON Olaf A. Heartness, 2348 SW. th St., Miami, Fla. 33135 Filed July 11, 1968, Ser. No. 744,215 Int. Cl. A01k 81/04 US. Cl. 294-61 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improved harpoon including a leading and trailing tubular portion with a wire cable stored in the leading portion and having one end connected to the leading portion and the other end connected to the trailing portion and means to separate the leading portion from the trailing portion and to eject a buoy from within the trailing portion to rise to the surface and draw the cable from the stored position in the leading portion to locate an object penetrated by the tip of the harpoon for recovery of the harpoon and for raising the object penetrated.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved harpoon for use in raising objects which includes a separable casing with one portion including a stored supply of wire cable and the other portion including an inflatable balloon and means to inflate the balloon and separate the portions so that when an object is penetrated by the harpoon the buoy will rise to the surface and locate the object and harpoon and be of use in raising the object.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved harpoon which includes a locater buoy and means for ejecting the buoy and maintaining connection of that buoy through a wire cable to the harpoon tip for use in locating and raising an object struck by the harpoon.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved harpoon which is adapted for use in the recovery of submerged objects and for use in raising the same to the surface for salvage.

In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a harpoon constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2a is a view of the leading portion of the harpoon of FIG. '1;

FIG. 2b is an enlarged view insection of the intermediate portion of FIG. '1;

FIG. 2c is an enlarged view in section of the trailing portion of the harpoon seen in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a view in cross sect-ion taken along the plane indicated by the line 33 of FIG. 20 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the different views, and referring particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a casing 12 composed of a leading portion 14 fitted with a harpoon tip 16 and a trailing portion 18 of two portions 20 and 22 interconnected by a coupler 24. The casing defines an elongate hollow interior. Within the trailing portion 22 a balloon or buoy 26 to be inflated as described hereinafter is housed. It is connected to a cable 28 stored preferably on a spool means 30 in the leading portion 14. The leading portion 14 and the trailing portion 18 are separable into two units so that when the harpoon tip 16 carried on the leading portion 14 is imbedded in an object beneath the surface of water and the balloon is ejected from the trailing portion to rise to the surface, the leading portion and the trailing portion are interconnected only through the cable 28. Means generally designated 32 are provided for separating the leading and trailing portion at a line of juncture 34 seen in FIG. 1 about a telescopic joint of the portions. The force for ejecting the balloon 26 and for operating the means 32 is derived from a capsule 36 captivated in a fixed position in the forward chamber 38 of the trailing portion 18 and containing fluid under pressure. Means 40 are provided to release the fluid from the capsule 36 into the chamber 38 which comprises a pressure chamber. On the forward or leading side of the pressure chamber a first piston 42 is arranged to be moved to co-act as a part of the means to separate the leading portion from the trailing portion of the casing and on the rearward or trailing side of the pressure chamber a second piston 44 is arranged to be moved in a rearward direction to drive the balloon 26 from the portion 22 for inflation by the gases escaping from the capsule 36 to raise the entire device to the surface and act as a buoy.

The capsule 36 is arranged such that the rearward surface 48 dwells against the shoulder defined by the leading edge 50 of the coupler 2.4 and is urged in that position by means of the spring 52 which is coiled about the neck 54 of the capsule at one end and about a striker pin 56 at the other end. When the harpoon is fired causing a rapid acceleration, the body 5 8' of the means to release 40 will travel rearwardly compressing against the force of the spring normally urging it away from the capsule and driving the point of the firing pin 56 through a frangible disk, not shown, in the neck 54. The gases will escape 'while the projectile is in flight filling the chamber 38 and traveling forwardly and rearwardly. Considering the forward travel or expansion of the gas first, it will pass through the passageways 60 of the body 58 and similar passageways 62 in a retaining flange 64 into the chamber portion designated by the numeral 66 exerting a pressure upon the piston 42 urging the same forwardly against the spring 68, urging the piston rearwardly. In response to the increase in pressure, the nose 70 of the top end of the piston will flex a plurality of pa-wls 17 causing them to converge and cause them to disengage from an annular seat 72 in the wall of the after portion 14 of the leading portion 14. The release of the pawls will cause the spring 76 to separate the leading portion 14 and the trailing portion 18 as it urges the shoulder 78 at the forward end of the trailing portion out of its position Within the telescoping skirt 8! at the rear of the casing portion 14. Stop means 82 are provided to limit the forward movement of the piston 42 and sealing means such as the rubber ring 84 resist loss of pressure from the chamber portion 66 and chamber 38. Considering now the simultaneous rearward expansion of the gas, the gas will expand rearwardly through the flutes 86 in the surface of the capsule 36 comprising a passageway therefor into the hollow 88 of the coupler 24 in which comprises a pressure chamber which is separated from the piston 44 by a pressure sensing means 90 which comprises a rupture disk 92 within a housing 94, the said disk being of the type selected having a desired bursting force. A strainer septum and division grill means 96 are preferably provided to avoid the entry of objectionable matter through the column 98 leading to the interior chamber 100 of the balloon. When the predetermined bursting force has been reached, the disk 92 will burst and the gases will expand into the balloon exerting a pressure which will cause it to be ejected from the month 102 at the rear end 104 of the trailing portion 18. The balloon is folded within the portion 22 within a frangible tubular guide 106. As the balloon expands within the portion 22, the force will cause the piston 44 to move rearwardly until the shoulder 108 abuts a locking ring 110 secured within a toroidal recess 112 in the wall of the portion 22. As this movement occurs the guide 106 will guide the balloon rearwardly and project from the end of the portion 22. On further increase in the pressure, the frangible sides of the guide 1106 will burst and the balloon will assume a spherical configuration, rising to the surface and acting as a buoy.

It is thus seen that when the harpoon is fired at an object, the pistons will operate first to separate the leading portion from the trailing portion and thence to release the buoy in the manner described to raise the separated trailing portion to the surface. As this occurs, the flexible cable 28, secured to a cable ring 114 on the end of a rod 116 secured for movement with the trailing portion 22, will be drawn from the storage chamber 118 in the leading portion 14 where it is preferably wound on the spool 30. Preferably, a plurality of pre-strained coils 120 are provided, and in the embodiment employing the spool as shown in FIG. 2a, a guide slot 122 is arranged for smooth playing out of the cable from the spool 30 journalled for rotation by the bearing means 124 and 126 and 126' and an access door 128 may be provided to assist in arranging the cable in the spiral form shown on the spool for securing the terminal end to the core thereof. The harpoon tip 16 includes a pointed nose 130 secured to a stern 132 and rearwardly diverging spring steel prongs 134 are arranged on the trailing portion of the tip 130 in circumposed relation about the stem 132. The stem also includes an impact flange 136 for a purpose which will be apparent in the following explanation. The harpoon tip 16 is secured to the casing as by the bolts 138 connecting the flange 140 to the leading end 126 of the casing 12. In use, it is contemplated that the harpoon will be fired into a sunken object, such as a ship, with the tip 130 piercing the side and with the steel prongs 134 entering the thickness of the hull or housing of a submerged device with the penetration being limited by the impact flange 136. Thereafter, the buoy which rises to the surface will locate the penetrated submerged object ard the cable may be employed for lifting the same to the surface either alone or in combination with the required number of such cables. It will be apparent that when a vertical strain is placed on the cable while the harpoon tip is imbedded in a horizontal attitude in the side of a submerged object, there will be a shearing force tending to break the harpoon at its weakest point. To accommodate this tendency, the harpoon tip is provided with a weakened body 142 interconnecting the impact flange 136 and flange 140 as by the longitudinal recesses 144 with the body being circumposed about a flexible cable 146 the opposite ends of which are secured within the opposing sockets 14 8 and 150 so that the required angularity is achieved through the flexing of the cable between the two flanges. In FIG. 2c it is seen that clamp means including a cup-shaped balloon retaining cap 152 is provided; to securely fasten the open end 154 of the balloon to the piston. Throughout the harpoon suitable sealing means, such as the O-rings 156 and 158 for the balloon, piston 84, piston 42 and 160 at the connection of the leading and trailing portions, FIG. 2b, are provided. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2a, an exterior seal means of rubbery material designated by the numeral 162 is provided so that when the harpoon tip penetrates a plate-like object, the rubbery material will tend to seal the opening thus created.

While the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what is conveived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is, therefore, not to be limited to the details disclosed herein, but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent apparatus and articles.

What is claimed is:

1. A harpoon comprising:

an elongate casing including,

a leading and trailing tubular portion;

means interconnecting said leading portion and said trailing portion;

a harpoon tip secured to the extending end of the leading portion;

a wire cable stored in the column of said leading portion and secured at one end to the leading portion and at the other end to the trailing portion;

an inflatable balloon type buoy secured in the column of the trailing portion at the end;

a capsule of compressed gas secured in the column of said trailing portion;

a firing pin in the column adjacent the capsule and arranged to penetrate the capsule on rapid change of acceleration of the harpoon to release the gas in the capsule;

the mouth of said buoy opening toward said capsule to be inflated by the escaping gas;

a piston in the column of the trailing portion intermediate the buoy and the capsule to eject the buoy from the extending end of the trailing portion in response to release of the gas;

sealing means in the column of the trailing portion to define a pressure chamber for expansion of the escaping gases;

and means to separate the leading portion from the trailing portion; means connecting the buoy to the piston; and

stop means to limit movement of the piston to travel at all times within the column of the trailing portion;

so that when the harpoon is fired the buoy will be ejected, inflated and raise the trailing portion to the surface with the leading portion and harpoon tip connected thereto through said cable in depending relation.

2. The harpoon as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means to separate comprises latch members movable between a first position holding the leading and trailing portion together and a second position permitting separation of the leading and trailing portion, and piston means arranged in said pressure chamber and responsive to an increase of pressure in said chamber to move said latch members to the position permitting separation of the portions, and means to limit travel of the piston means so that the pressure chamber is at all times sealed.

3. The harpoon as set forth in claim 2 wherein said latch members comprise a plurality of pawls secured on the trailing portion and said means to separate includes an annular seat in the leading portion with said pawls being normally urged into hooked-up relation with said seat and yieldable in response to movement of said piston means to unseat, and spring means to normally urge said leading and trailing portion apart.

4. The harpoon as set forth in claim 1 wherein spool means are provided in the column of the leading tubular portion and said wire cable is stored on said spool.

5. The harpoon as set forth in claim 1 wherein frangible guide means are arranged in circumposed relation of said balloon to guide it from the extending end of the trailing portion on inflation.

6. The harpoon as set forth in claim 1 wherein a rupture disk is secured in spanning relation of the column of the trailing portion intermediate the buoy piston and the capsule to require bursting at a predetermined pressure prior to action of the expanding gases upon the buoy piston.

7. The harpoon as set forth in claim 1 wherein spring means are provided to normally urge the firing pin in spaced relation from said capsule.

8. The harpoon as set forth in claim 1 wherein said harpoon tip includes a sharpened nose at one end and a flanged portion at the other end with an intermediate portion composed of rearwardly diverging prong members to act as barbs and lock the tip within a penetrated object.

9. The harpoon as set forth in claim 8 wherein said flanged end includes a weakened tubular portion yieldable in response to bending forces and a bendable wire cable.

10. The harpoon as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wire cable is secured to the trailing portion through a cable ring extending from said trailing portion and carried by a central shaft arranged in said trailing portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,472,223 10/ 1923 Loop 43-6 2,559,918 7/1951 Grieb 99 5 2,853,724 9/1958 Smith 99 3,452,466 7/ 1969 Heartness 43-6 EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner 10 W. SCOTT CARSON, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 43-6; 294-66 

